The study will explore the how thermal mechanical boundary conditions play a role in the ablative technique in the pelvic region.

在过去的二十年里，在局部麻醉下使用热消融术已经非常成功地治疗了腿部静脉回流。在过去的十年中，随着盆腔静脉反流的诊断，身体其他部位静脉反流疾病的治疗得到了改善，目前使用Whiteley诊所（TWC）开发的黄金标准技术-双功超声进行诊断。目前通过弹簧圈栓塞治疗。TWC和萨里大学之间最近的工作导致了一种新的热消融技术的开发，以治疗盆腔静脉;然而，盆腔区域的性质（如果静脉穿孔，则与主要器官直接接触）意味着在新方法引入人类临床使用之前，必须完成重要的开发和验证工作。这个博士将通过构建一个精确的模型，通过盆腔静脉回流患者的子宫内膜组织的热传导来开发这种新技术。这些模型将从患者扫描和重建成3D模型，然后通过有限元分析软件（如ANSYS或COMSOL）进行分析。还需要模拟血管中的血流，因为它在动态温度曲线中起着同样重要的作用。最近发表的关于离散血管模型的研究已经证明对于临床应用是不切实际的;需要有效的基于温度的优化方法，包括骨盆区域中离散血管系统的热机械效应，采用生化环境以及所有其他边界条件。该研究将探讨热机械边界条件如何在骨盆区域的消融技术中发挥作用，其中骨盆区域的动态温度分布对于评估在骨盆区域引入热消融技术的风险至关重要。更重要的是，它将寻求确保静脉内使用的消融能量不会影响正在治疗的静脉周围的主要器官。这将使拟开发的新热技术的安全性、风险评估可行性进入产品开发的下一阶段。

Venous reflux in the legs has been treated very successfully in the past two decade using thermal ablation conducted under local anaesthetic. The treatment of venous reflux disease elsewhere in the body has improved in the last decade with the diagnosis of pelvic venous reflux, currently diagnosed using duplex ultrasound the gold standard technique developed at The Whiteley Clinic (TWC). This is currently treated by coil embolization. Recent work between TWC and the University of Surrey has led to the development of a new thermal ablation technique to treat pelvic veins; however, the nature of the pelvic region (where if the vein perforates, there is direct contact to major organs) means that significant development and validation work must be done before the new approach can be introduced for human clinical use. This PhD will develop this new technique by constructing an accurate model of thermal conduction through the tissues of the abdomens of patients suffering with pelvic venous reflux. These models will be developed from patient scans and the reconstructed into 3D models before being analysed by finite element analysis software such as ANSYS or COMSOL. Blood flow in the vessels will also need to be simulated, as it plays an equally important role in the dynamic temperature profile. Recent studies published on Discrete Vasculature Models have proven impractical for clinical applications; there is a need for efficient temperature based optimisation method including thermal mechanical effect of discrete vasculature in the pelvic region taking the biochemical environment as well as all the other boundary conditions. The study will explore the how thermal mechanical boundary conditions play a role in the ablative technique in the pelvic region, where the dynamic temperature distribution across the pelvic region, which is of extreme importance in assessing the risk of introducing a thermal ablative technique in an area of the pelvis. More importantly, it will seek to ensure that the ablative energy used within the vein will not affect the major organs that are around the veins that are being treated. This will allow for safe, risk assessed feasibility of the new thermal technique proposed to be developed to the next stage of product development.